Group chat application with reputation scoring

ABSTRACT

Method and apparatus for applying reputation scoring to participants in a group chat session in a computer network. The group chat session is displayed in the form of a visually perceptible conversation arranged as a sequence of communications by a group of users of network accessible devices. Each user has an associated reputation score generated responsive to at least one characteristic of a previous communication by the associated user. Each network accessible device displays each communication using a visual indicia selected in relation to a magnitude of the associated reputation score for the user who generated the communication. The visible indica can take a variety of forms such as different sizes of comments, different color schemes, different fonts, and so on.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application makes a claim of domestic priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/703,199 filed Jul. 25, 2018, thecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Group chat applications (apps) are becoming increasingly popular as amechanism for allowing users of networked devices (e.g., smart phones,tablets, computers, etc.) to communicate with one another in essentiallyreal time. Such apps can facilitate text-based conversations in avariety of forms such as chat rooms, message boards, private messages,text messages, etc.

In a typical group chat application, launching the app on a localnetwork device allows the app to communicate with one or more remoteservers across a network. Messages from other chat participants onremote client devices are routed through the servers and returned anddisplayed on a user interface of the local network device. Similarly,messages from the local user are displayed locally as well as routedthrough the servers for display on the remote client devices. Thecommunications may take place using a web browser or a special APIinterface associated with the app. The conversation is often arranged asa sequential thread so that new comments from various members of thegroup are added to the top or the bottom of a listing of previouscomments in the conversation.

Some group chat apps can support large numbers of group members at thesame time. This capability can advantageously allow many participants toobserve and, as desired, contribute to an on-going conversation.However, if too many comments are being added, new comments may appearat a rate that is faster than the members can reasonably track and theconversation may become unwieldy and not useful. This situation can beexasperated if some members post comments that are not at all relatedto, or only marginally related to, the topic at hand (e.g., spam).

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are generally directed toa method and apparatus for applying reputation scoring to a group chatsession in a computer network.

In some embodiments, the group chat session is displayed in the form ofa visually perceptible conversation arranged as a sequence ofcommunications by a group of users of network accessible devices. Eachuser has an associated reputation score generated responsive to at leastone characteristic of a previous communication by the associated user.Each network accessible device displays each communication using avisual indicia selected in relation to a magnitude of the associatedreputation score for the user who generated the communication. Thevisible indica can take a variety of forms such as different sizes ofcomments, different color schemes, different fonts, and so on.

These and other features and advantages of various embodiments can beunderstood from a review of the following detailed description inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a computer network system constructed and operated inaccordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a functional block representation of a selected client deviceand server from FIG. 1 in some embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a group chat taking place using the devices of FIGS. 1-2in some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a rudimentary representation of a text-based conversationtaking place during the group chat as different members add content in asequential order.

FIG. 5 is a functional block representation of a group chat managementsystem implemented by the devices of FIGS. 1-2 in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts the reputation judgment circuit of FIG. 5 in someembodiments.

FIG. 7 shows the rendering module of FIG. 5 in some embodiments.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show different exemplary forms of client displaysprovided by the module of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 shows the comment filter of FIG. 5 in some embodiments.

FIGS. 10A and 10B show graphical representations of the operation of thecomment filter in some embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for a group chat management routine.

FIG. 12 shows the use of a separate channel that may be establishedduring a group chat in accordance with further embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a functional block representation of a peer-to-peer groupchat arrangement carried out in accordance with further embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a functional block representation of a reputation judgmentcircuit in accordance with further embodiments.

FIG. 15 shows a functional block diagram for a display rules enginecircuit that can be used by a network accessible device to displaycomments in some embodiments.

FIG. 16 is a functional representation of a system including a relevancescore manager circuit at a remote server level that accumulates,processes and distributes relevance values among a number of differentapplications (apps) in further embodiments.

FIG. 17 shows a relevance score weighting circuit from FIG. 16 thatgenerates a combined (master) relevance value for each user in thesystem in further embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a masscommunication on-line system to facilitate real-time, text-basedconversations (group chats) with multiple geographically distributedusers. The system may be implemented using one or more networkaccessible (client) devices for use by each of the participants (groupmembers), and one or more remote servers that interconnect andcommunicate with the client devices. Other arrangements can be used,including a peer-to-peer arrangement where the functions identified asbeing carried out at the server level can instead be carried out by oneor more of the local client devices.

A reputation score, also sometimes referred to as a relevance score or ajudgment value, is assigned to each member of a particular chat group.This score can be generated and maintained in a variety of ways,including through the assignment of scores by an owner of the groupchat, the analysis of various factors associated with the members, etc.The reputation score is intended to provide a relative measure of thecontributions made by the member to the quality of the conversation aswell as to the quality of past conversations.

The reputation scores influence the manner in which the variouscommunications are displayed on the client devices during the course ofa conversation. This differentiation among the comments allows themembers to determine, at a glance, the relative merit of the respectivecomments being made during the conversation.

It is contemplated that the comments will be distinguished in somevisually perceptible manner such as through the use of different sizedtext, different fonts, colors, the use of bold characters, icons, etc.Regardless of form, comments from members with better (e.g., higher)reputation scores will tend to be displayed in a relatively moreprominent manner as compared to those comments from members having worse(e.g., lower) reputation scores.

To the extent that images or other attachments can be incorporated intothe comments, different maximum sizes can be provided so that higherreputations allow the use of larger images, etc. Other variations can beimplemented as well, such as metering the participation based onrelevance in terms of allowable message length, the frequency at whichnew comments are permitted to be added to the conversation, etc. Imagedetection routines can be applied to images in an effort to characterizethe style and relevance of the images to the conversation.

One practical result of linking message prominence to reputation scoreis that off-topic posts (e.g., spam) from frequent posters will tend tobecome relatively tiny within the viewing area of the client devices(e.g., small font, small max image sizes, etc.). For example, someoneattempting to sell a phone during a class discussion would have theirmessages minimized or otherwise flagged, leading to fewer distractionsduring the conversation by those members attempting to follow andparticipate in the conversation.

In further embodiments, a filter mechanism can be used to filter theconversation based on the reputation scores of the members. For example,in a rapidly updated conversation involving a high rate of new comments,a user can filter out lower level communications from members havingrelatively lower reputations. This will tend to reduce the rate, andincrease the relative quality, of new messages added to theconversation. Other filtering schemes can be used as well, such asselecting comments from members with reputation scores in some selectedrange. For example, a new member to the group may wish to initially onlyreceive comments from other members with a similar reputation, etc. onthe basis that comments from similar members may provide content moresuited to their knowledge level regarding the topic of the conversation.

Further embodiments include an adaptive filter that monitors variousparameters and automatically adjusts the rate at which new comments aredisplayed. Other factors can be taken into account in determining thedisplay style and filtering, such as relative distance between members,etc. In some cases, a copy of the entire conversation is maintainedlocally, but only the filtered comments are displayed in real time. Thiscan allow the user to go back later and review either those commentsthat were exempted from display, or the entire conversation.

The system can be set up to facilitate group chats in any number ofdifferent formats, including a chat room, a message board, a privatemessage, a text message, etc. Any number of different sizes and stylesof chats are envisioned, including private chats having as few as twomembers to public chats with several hundred or several thousand membersor more.

In some cases, the group chat may be associated with a classroom settingso that the group chat owner is the instructor for a class and themembers are students in the class. The conversation may be a continuousconversation that is periodically updated throughout the term of theclass as different members add new comments, or the conversation can bebroken up into segments that occur on a regularly scheduled rate (e.g.,every Tuesday from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, etc.).

In other cases, the group chat may be an interest-based group forparticipants interested in a particular subject (e.g., sports, politics,hobbies, current events, philosophy, religion, music, art, celebrities,etc.). In still other cases, the group chat may form a part of amatchmaking (e.g., dating) site or other social media platform. Thevarious embodiments can be adapted for substantially any topic andenvironment.

It is contemplated that the system will assign, monitor and adjust thereputation scores for all participants using a dedicated judgmentcircuit so that a single, objective set of reputation scores is appliedto the system. In this case, each participant experiences theconversation based on the same set of reputation scores. Changes to theobjective set of reputation scores will occur over time as a result ofthe operation of the judgment circuit, and all such adjustments will beapplied to all participants.

In further embodiments, individual (non-chat owner) participants can begiven an option to assign, monitor and/or adjust the reputation scoresof one, some, or all of the participants. This allows a participant togenerate a tailored set of reputation scores. The effects of a tailoredset of reputation scores will generally be viewable only by theparticipant who generated the tailored set. It follows that differentparticipants may experience the conversation in different ways throughthe use of multiple sets of tailored and/or objective sets of reputationscores.

If a participant assigns a low reputation score to a particularindividual, communications may still be received from that individual asopposed to being blocked, but the types of restrictions discussed above(e.g., reduced font size, reduced image size, time restrictions oncommunications, etc.) will be applied to such communications from theindividual with the tailored, reduced reputation score.

A participant may further have the option to have the tailoredreputation score(s) be operable for a short time, for the duration of acurrent session, or implemented so that the tailored reputation score(s)continue to be applied during subsequent conversations. The judgmentcircuit can be instructed to modify tailored reputation scores asbefore, so that over time, with good behavior a reduced reputation scorecan improve. Alternatively, the judgment circuit can be instructed toallow the tailored reputation scores selected by a participant to remainin place unless instructed otherwise by the participant.

These and other features and advantages of various embodiments of thepresent disclosure can be understood beginning with a review of FIG. 1which shows a computer network system 100. The system is geographicallydistributed and includes a number processing nodes including clientdevices 102 and servers 104 that communicate via one or more interveningnetworks 106.

The client devices 102 can constitute substantially any form of networkaccessible device, including but not limited to a smart phone, a tablet,a laptop, a desktop computer, a workstation, a gaming system, etc. Theservers 104 may provide processing and storage capabilities for theoperation of a system level group chat application (app) that isexecuted using the system 100. The network can include the Internet, alocal area network, a wireless network, and/or any other arrangementthat facilitates wired and/or wireless communication link(s) between thevarious devices.

FIG. 2 shows a selected client device 102 and a selected server 104 fromFIG. 1 in some embodiments. Other configurations can be used so this ismerely for purposes of providing a concrete illustration and is notlimiting. For purposes of the present discussion, it will becontemplated that the client device 102 constitutes a smart phone.

The client device 102 includes a programmable processor circuit 108 andan internal memory 110. Stored within the memory are various forms ofprograms and data accessed by the processor including an operatingsystem (OS) 112, a local group chat app 114 and local group chat data116. The local group chat app 114 can take any number of forms such as aweb-browser based or separate API based application that, when executedby the user of the device 102, initiates participation in a group chatfacilitated by the server 104. The local group chat data 116 providesvarious data collected and used by the app 114. A user interface 118enables the user to interact with the app 114 such as through a touchscreen display, a keypad, etc.

The server 104 includes one or more programmable processor circuits 120and memory 122. The memory 122 stores a server OS 124, a server groupchat app 126 and server group chat data 128 accessed by theprocessor(s). If the server operates as a storage node, server nodestorage 130 may also be used to provide non-volatile memory (NVM) forthe storage of data associated with the chat app.

FIG. 3 illustrates an on-going group chat 140 between a number ofmembers 142 and an owner of the group 144 as a result of the operationof the local chat group app 112 and the server group chat app 126. Eachof the members 142 and the owner 144 utilize an arrangement such as inFIG. 2, with each participating in the group chat using a separateclient device 102. In this sense, the group chat exists as an ongoingconversation that is displayed on each of the client devices. In somecases, each client device may display the group chat in a slightlydifferent form, as explained below.

The members 142 may each undergo a registration process and select ausername and a password or other credentials to uniquely identify themember when accessing the group chat. Real names, anonymous orpseudonymous usernames may be used as desired. However, even in acompletely anonymous chat, the system will track the various users(e.g., login script, IP address, etc.) in order to maintain a reputationscore for each. It is contemplated that the owner will haveadministrative privileges as is common with typical group chatapplications, and thus can be viewed as a board owner (BO) or chat owner(CO) with the right to add new members, remove existing members,temporarily or permanently suspend members, make adjustments toreputation scoring levels, and so on. The inclusion of a board owner 144is not necessarily required; in other embodiments, the chat may befreely joined by any number of participants and the system will monitorthe ongoing conversation and begin assigning and adjusting reputationsas required.

FIG. 4 is a rudimentary depiction of the group chat 140 in FIG. 3 in theform of an ongoing conversation as displayed on a local client devicesuch as in FIG. 2. The conversation is made up of sequential comments146, each also respectively referred to as group chat content. It iscontemplated albeit not necessarily required that each comment 146 willbe a text-based string of characters that conveys a message generated bythe associated member. However, the format of each message can takesubstantially any form including characters, icons (e.g., emojis, etc.),graphics, images, audio-visual (A/V) works such as movie clips, recordedsections of audio content, attached files, etc.

The comments 146 are displayed in a sequential order substantiallyrelated to the order in which the comments were generated and submittedto the group chat. Arrow 148 depicts elapsed time, so that in thisconversation, group chat content 1 represents an earlier comment andgroup chat comment 4 represents a later added comment. Comments can begrouped and displayed for visual detection in substantially any suitableformat. Comments by the local user may be in one color or have one formof marking to distinguish one's own comments as compared to commentsfrom other members. Comments are further distinguished among the othermembers as will now be discussed beginning with a review of FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 shows a group chat management system 150 constructed and operatedin accordance with some embodiments. The system 150 may be realized bythe execution of the respective group chat apps by the processorcircuits in the local client devices and the server(s), although otherarrangements can be used including hardware circuits, etc.

The system 150 includes various components including a reputationjudgment circuit 152, a rendering module 154 and a comment filter 156.In some cases, the operations of the reputation judgment circuit, alsosometimes referred to as a reputation engine, are carried out at theserver level, while the rendering and filtering operations may becarried out locally at the client level.

The reputation engine 152 can take a variety of forms. FIG. 6 shows oneembodiment to include a scoring module 158, a topic keyword database 160and a comment database 162. The scoring module 158 constitutes hardwareand/or programmable processor circuitry that operates to assign andmaintain a reputation (relevance) score for each member 142 of the groupchat (e.g., see FIG. 3). In some cases, scores may be subjectively orobjectively assigned by the owner 144. A baseline score may be initiallyassigned to each new member (e.g., 50% out of a range from 0% to 100%,etc.), after which the system adaptively adjusts this value up or downbased on that member's performance.

The topic keyword database 160 can represent a data structure in amemory that lists keywords associated with a given topic. These can beloaded by the owner 144 or can be detected and added based on frequencyof use during ongoing conversations. For example, a group chat relatedto a biology class may include keywords for terms and concepts beingcovered by the instructional materials being studied and covered in thatclass. Use of these terms by various members that include the keywordsmay result in a higher relevance being assigned to such comments.

The comment database 162 can be arranged as a data structure in a memorythat lists a history of previous comments by each member. In some cases,statistical analyses such as artificial intelligence (AI)multi-dimensional analyses can evaluate the comments in view of thekeywords and other factors to arrive at a reputation score for a givenmember.

In some embodiments, the scoring module 158 continuously evaluates thequality of the various comments so that a member with a relatively lowreputation score may, over time, enjoy an increase in relevance (or viceversa). In some cases, intentionally humorous or sarcastic comments maybe denoted as such by the commentor (using a tag such as /jk or /s), sothat such comments do not inadvertently cost the commentor. As within-person human interactions, judgments are made of the relevance ofvarious contributions, and the system can be configured to take thesetypes of judgments into account. As with real life, not every statementmay not necessarily be intended to be taken seriously and/or literally.

A ranking table 164 provides a data structure in a memory that maintainsa listing of the various members and the associated reputation scores.The members may be ranked from best to worst with regard to theassociated scores. History data may be accumulated to show changes inthe scores for each member over time. This data may be viewable by theowner and forwarded to individual members for self-assessment purposes.

FIG. 7 shows a representation of the rendering module 154 from FIG. 5 insome embodiments. Other forms can be used. Unlike the reputation engine152 of FIG. 6 which may be realized at the server level, the renderingmodule 154 represents programming and/or hardware circuitry operable atthe client device level. Generally, the rendering module 154 includes adisplay controller 166 and a client display 168. The display controlleroperates as part of the local app to receive all user comments added tothe conversation, as well as reputation scoring information from theranking table 164.

From this, the controller renders the display of the comments based onthe associated reputation scores associated with the various comments.The client display 168 forms a part of the local client device interface(see e.g., 118, FIG. 2) and may be a touch screen display of theexemplary smart phone, although other forms can be used (e.g., computerdisplays, etc.).

FIGS. 8A and 8B show the client display 168 in different embodiments.Other formats can be used. In FIG. 8A, different group chat comments 146(see FIG. 4) are displayed using different sizes and (as desired)different fonts in relation to the relative scores. In this example,comment 1 comes from a member having a high reputation score, comment 2comes from a member having a medium reputation score, and comment 3comes from a member having a low reputation score.

FIG. 8B shows similar comments but with different color and/or iconschemes to denote the relative reputation scores. For example, comment 1may be more stark or easier to read as compared to the color scheme usedfor comment 3. Any number of different forms of visual distinctions canbe used as desired so that these are merely exemplary and are notlimiting.

At this point it will be noted that the reputation scoring can take anynumber of suitable forms depending on a particular environment. Therankings may be absolute or relative. In one example, a sliding scale offrom 0% (worst reputation) to 100% (best reputation) may be used (orvice versa). In other embodiments, relative rankings may be used sothat, in a group chat of 50 members, the members will be ranked fromfirst to fiftieth, etc. In a classroom setting, a student's currentclass average may be a factor that is taken into account in assigningthe associated reputation score.

While it is contemplated that the owner has the ability to set or adjustthe reputation scores, the system can be alternatively configured suchthat the system itself determines all scores heuristically. In otherembodiments, members may be given the option to provide input toinfluence the scores of other members. It is contemplated that the ownermay be assigned and will retain the highest score automatically on thebasis that the owner is the leader of the discussion or otherwise ownsthe board, but this is not necessarily required.

The displays in FIGS. 8A and 8B are intended to represent a group chatin which all of the members have access. In further embodiments,subgroup discussions, such as private chats can be established betweenmembers or between one or more of the members and the owner. In thiscase, the communications can use a similar display system, or thecomments can be shown in a consistent manner (e.g., same font size,etc.). For example, if a struggling student is having difficultyobtaining attention from the instructor, a private chat may enable thatstudent to initiate a side conversation to address specific issues.

FIG. 9 illustrates the comment filter 156 from FIG. 5 in someembodiments. It is contemplated that the comment filter will form aportion of the local app, although such is not necessarily required. Thefilter 156 includes a filter controller 170, an adaptive filter 172 anda user filter 174.

The filter controller 170 operates to restrict the number of commentsbeing displayed on the local device. As noted above, the entirety of agiven conversation may be stored locally on the client device, with onlya subset of the comments being displayed during the course of theconversation.

The adaptive filter 172 can be operated to automatically throttle therate at which new comments are displayed on the client display. This canaddress situations where so many comments are being added at once thatit is difficult for the local user to track the course of theconversation. By selecting those comments from users with the highestreputation scores for display (and omitting those comments associatedwith lower scores), the overall quality and flow of the conversation canbe substantially maintained at a user selectable or automaticallyselected level.

The user filter 174 allows the local user to adjust the operation of thefilter controller. In some cases, the user filter can allow the localuser to identify certain commentors that should have their commentsdisplayed irrespective of the associated reputation score. In othercases, the user filter can allow the user to select a particular rangeof reputation scores for display.

Two such ranges are illustrated in FIGS. 10A and 10B. FIG. 10A shows acomment curve 180 that generally represents accumulated comments 146obtained over the course of an extended conversation based on reputationscore. While the waveform of the curve 180 is shown to be substantiallyGaussian, other waveforms may be experienced since the frequency ofcommenting may not necessarily be uniform across all members; indeed, askewed waveform may be more likely since commentors with higher scoresmay tend to comment more frequently. Nevertheless, the waveform of curve180 is sufficient to illustrate the operation of the user filter.

As shown by FIG. 10A, the user can select a cutoff value at a givenreputation score magnitude, so that comments at or above this level aredisplayed, as indicated by hatched region 182. Conversely, lower scoredcomments are omitted from display, as represented in blank region 184.

In some cases, the user may dial the score setting up or down based oncurrent comment rate to obtain the desired conversation characteristics.For example, should a large number of irrelevant comments suddenly beginto appear within the conversation, these comments can be filtered out bysetting an appropriate relevancy level. It is noted that instead ofhaving to individually identify and filter out each member by usernameor comment, the user can simply set a relevance level, causing all lowerlevel comments to be omitted at once. Existing lower level comments canremain in the thread or be immediately removed from view.

FIG. 10B shows a similar comment curve 190 in which the local user canuse the user filter 174 to select a particular range of comments fordisplay, as depicted by hashed region 192. Comments in upper and lowerregions 194, 196 are omitted. This can be useful, for example, when theuser desires to see comments from a particular band of similarly rankedmembers. The owner 144 may wish to use this feature to determine howstudents in a particular sector are addressing the subject matter.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for a group chat management routine 200 tosummarize the foregoing discussion. The routine 200 may representprogramming steps carried out by the respective local and system levelgroup chat app routines of FIG. 2. The various steps are merelyillustrative and may be modified, appended, performed in a differentorder, etc.

At step 202, the routine establishes a chat group, including theselection of various elements including the owner 144, the members 142,the topic, relevant keywords, etc. In some cases no separate owner willbe present, as the chat will be a peer-to-peer arrangement.

Step 204 shows the assignment of initial reputation scores (RS) to thevarious members of the group chat. As noted above, this can be performedby the group owner, or these can be baseline values, etc.

The group chat (e.g., 140, FIG. 3) is thereafter initiated at step 206.As discussed above, this will develop a conversation that begins toappear on each of the client devices associated with the chat. Theconversation may be separately logged and stored on the respectivedevices and/or the server.

During the course of the conversation, comments will be displayed on therespective client devices based on the reputation scores, as indicatedby step 210. Concurrently, as desired, filtering may be applied at theindividual client devices so that different ranges of comments mayappear on different client devices, step 210.

Finally, step 212 shows the collection and analysis of various commentsduring the course of the conversation by the individual members. Asrequired, the various reputation scores may be adaptively adjusted up ordown. In this way, during the course of a given conversation a givenuser may see their own comments becoming decreased in size or otherwisemarked. Initially, these changes may be reflected only locally, givingthe local user a chance to correct the situation before the reduction inscoring is reflected in the other member's screens. These and otherfeatures can be readily implemented based on the foregoing discussion.

FIG. 12 shows another group chat 220 similar to the group chatsdiscussed above. In this group chat, at least two members (users) 222,224 are participating out of a larger group of members. These twomembers are respectively identified as Member A and Member B. The groupchat 220 constitutes a main communication channel through which thesemembers may communicate with each other, as well as with other on-linemembers of the group during the course of the group chat.

A separate communication channel is denoted at 226. This channel maytake the form of a private chat, an IM (instant message), etc. betweenthe respective members 222, 224. More than just two members mayparticipate, although it is contemplated that less than all of themembers will participate in this separate conversation during the courseof the main channel communications of the group chat 220. The separatecommunication channel 226 may pass through the same network as the mainchannel 220, or use a different channel.

In some embodiments, members can only send/receive messages that fallwithin some reputation score range. The reputation score can be that ofthe sender, the receiver, or both. For example, Member A may be onlypermitted to send messages to receivers having a certain score, such as95%; in other words, Member B would need to have a reputation of atleast 95% in order to receive the message. In another example, in orderfor Member A to be able to successfully send a message to Member B,Member A would have to have a reputation score of some minimum value(such as at least 95%). In other examples, both Members A and B wouldhave to have reputation scores within some range in order to be able tocommunicate via this separate channel 226.

The reputation scores can be used to provide a measure of thetrustworthiness of individual contributors. As members establishreputations within the group, higher levels of trust may be generated,allowing the ability to develop various trust boundaries. Other factorsnot necessarily related to the comments made by members can also be usedin generating and maintaining the individual member reputation scores,such as the behavior, actions and/or performance of the various membersaway from the group chat. While a single reputation score has been shownfor each member, multiple scores can be used for each member, such asdifferent scores for different groups or different scores for differentsets of criteria within a given group. This can help to differentiatelevels of expertise, preference, etc. among the individual members.

In further embodiments, a separate communication channel is not requiredas shown in FIG. 12; rather, embedded communications can be providedwithin the main group chat. For example, each of a subgroup of themembers can communicate in such a way that separate comments from/toeach of the subgroup members appear in the normal conversation, butthese are only viewable by those subgroup members. In such case, thefiltering does not take place on the client side, but rather on theserver side, and it is not based on the sender's relevance, but insteadon the recipient's relevance.

The filter on the client side is for the convenience of the user(reducing the irrelevant information). This additional filtering on theserver side considers the recipient's relevance as a security feature,which prohibits non-relevant participants from accessing theinformation. Implementing this at the server level can eliminate theability of the clients to tamper with and gain access to theinformation.

In some cases, a message metadata can be simplified to consist of atleast the following information:

SenderID|GroupID|Messages relevance value|Minimum participant'srelevance threshold necessary to receive

In this way, the messages will be correctly routed to the intendedrecipients. Thus, filtering including high/low pass filtering can takeplace on the server and/or the client side as required, and thefiltering can further be carried out based on the channel specificrelevance of the sender and/or the recipient.

In still further embodiments, activity modules such as games (e.g.,“mini games”) can be embedded in the channel/group. All manner of games(or other activities) are envisioned, including action, racing, quizzes,etc. Games can be single player or multi-player. The outcome of thegames can be automatically posted to the channel, or through userselection. The outcome of the games can further be used as an input tothe reputation scores of the various members; for example, proficiencyin a particular activity may serve to raise the reputation score of aparticular member. The games can even be arranged to play for stakes,such as money or points (where permitted by law). The activities may beviewed as a form of plugin that can be developed by third parties to thesupplier of the main group chat software (app).

FIG. 13 shows yet another system 230 in which a group chat is carriedout in accordance with further embodiments. The system 230 provides apeer-to-peer group chat for users having associated network accessibledevices, as opposed to a server based system as discussed above in FIG.2. Two user devices in FIG. 13 are denoted at 102A and 102B. Each devicemay operate as described above, except that the relevance enginefunctionality is disposed in one or more of the respective user devices.As shown in FIG. 13, each user device may have a separate relevanceengine, such as shown at 232A and 232B. These may be realized viasoftware executed by the local device processor 108 and stored in thelocal device memory 110. In this case, different tailored sets ofreputation scores can be generated by each user.

FIG. 14 shows a functional block representation of a scoring module 240similar to the scoring modules discussed above. The module 240 can berealized in hardware and/or programmable processing circuits as desired.

The module includes a storage of existing judgments (reputation scores)as represented at block 242. This represents the scores for all users inthe system. A change or addition of a judgment triggers a calculation bya provisional relevance calculator block 244. This block operates torecursively calculate a provisionally relevance per channel based on thehierarchical structure of judgments, e.g., a network of trust.

The result of this calculation is stored in a provisional relevancestorage block 246. The arrival of the new calculation triggers acalculation in an effective relevance calculator block 248, which takesa formula describing the relationship between different kinds orqualities of judgments stored in a formula storage block 250 andsupplied by formula calculator 252, and calculates based on this inputrecursively the effective relevance of a user on a channel and stores itinto an effective relevance storage block 254.

This processing by the effective relevance calculator 248 can also betriggered by changing a formula in the formula storage block 250. Aclient can query the effective relevance score from the effectiverelevance storage block 254.

FIG. 15 shows a display rules engine circuit 260 in accordance withfurther embodiments. The circuit 260 can be realized in hardware or viaa programmable processor, and may form a portion of the displaycontroller circuit 166 of FIG. 7. The circuit 260 applies selected rulesregarding the manner in which comments are displayed on the displaydevice of the network accessible device. The rules are applied to eachuser comment received by the device pending display based on variousinputs, including the comment itself, the User ID of the user thatauthored the comment, and the relevance score of the author. Inresponse, the rules will determine, based on the magnitude of the userrelevance score, whether the comment is displayed at all; the size, fontand/or color scheme to be used to display the comment if the comment isdisplayed; whether certain actions can be taken with respect to thecomment, such as whether embedded graphical images (e.g., *.gif, *.png,*.jpg, *.mpg, etc.) can be expanded or activated; and whether private(instant type) pop up messages can be accepted by the author. The rulescan form a portion of the loaded app, can be transmitted from theserver, or can be customized by the local user of the network accessibledevice.

FIG. 16 shows a processing system 270 in accordance with furtherembodiments. The discussion thus far has generally contemplated that therelevance scores can be generated and applied for users of a singleplatform, such as a group chat application. FIG. 16 shows a relevancescore manager circuit 272 for a suite of different applications (apps)274, denoted as Apps 1 through N. The apps 274 may be any number ofdifferent types and styles of apps in which communication can take placeamong remote users. Examples include chat apps, games, office suites,search engines, social media apps, dating apps, etc. Hence, it will beunderstood that each of the apps 274 may be loaded to each of thenetwork accessible devices in a network and accessed as required by theusers of the devices.

A consolidated relevance score can be established for the performance ofeach user across these different apps based on feedback supplied to therelevance score manager 272 by the respective apps 274. The consolidatedrelevance scores can thereafter be stored in a database 276 as a datastructure in a memory, and forwarded to the respective devices as thevarious apps 274 are subsequently executed by the users.

FIG. 17 shows a relevance score weighting circuit 280 in furtherembodiments. The circuit 280 may form a portion of the manager circuit272 of FIG. 16, and can be realized in hardware or programmableprocessing circuitry. It is contemplated the circuits 272, 280 will beprovided at the remote server level to facilitate communication ofinformation to the various network accessible devices.

The circuit 280 operates to receive a number of different inputsrelating to the performance and behavior of the various users in thesystem. For example, for a selected user the circuit 280 can receiverelevance score(s) for that user, as well as an indication of the usagerate of actions taken in the system by the selected user such as volumeof comments, actions, etc. Time factors can be supplied as well, such asthe relative amount of time that the selected user has operated variousapps, how recently the apps have been activated, and so on. Otherfactors can be used as well, such as a measure of proficiency orachievement demonstrated by the selected user. For example, in a gameapp information relating to various achievements obtained by theselected user may be incorporated into the analysis.

Using these and other factors, the weighting circuit arrives at aconsolidated, or master relevance score for the selected user. Thisscore can be updated to the database and thereafter used by the variousapps 274. In this scheme, individual apps may generate individualrelevance scores which are used as a factor toward the master relevancescore, but issues such as lack of experience in a particular app mayhelp the selected user rather than penalize the user if the user isproficient and well behaved in other app environments.

A number of additional alternatives are contemplated. With regard to therehabilitation of a user having a low relevance score, it iscontemplated that in most cases, the natural operation of the systemwith regard to voting and judgment will serve to allow improvements overtime. The system administrator can, of course, elect to make anadjustment to an individual, which in turn will trigger a recalculationthat reflects the new input. Additionally, some systems may allow anoperation referred to as “promoting” or “pimping” a message. Forexample, if User A has a low reputation and User B has a highreputation, User B may think that a message from User A is important.User B may be given the ability to “star” or “pimp” the (single)message, which gives it the same reputation as User B (that is, themessage from User A is displayed with the same prominence as if themessage came from User B).

Recalculations can take place due to a number of factors and events asdescribed above. Generally, relevance on a channel is determined byfirst, judgement of users on the channel; second, formula (e.g., theamount of influence of other channels); and third, the relevance on thisother (referenced in the formula) channels. It is contemplated that anychange to any of these will trigger a recalculation. For example, ifChannel A has an input via its formula from channel B, and a changeoccurs to the first or second factors above (e.g., judgment by otherusers or formula) on channel B, a recalculation on channel A will bealso triggered. This may continue down for all references (e.g., channelX which takes a reference from channel A, and so on like in a tree, butof course not in circles). It follows that changes in external eventscan result in the triggering of a recalculation, provided that suchevents affect one of the factors listed above.

The system as variously disclosed herein provides a number of advantagesand benefits over the existing art. Providing reputation (relevance)scoring enables each participant in the conversation to visually assess,at a glance, the relative merit of the various comments. Feedback isprovided through this system, and larger groups of participants can beinvolved in an ongoing chat while not lessening the quality of thediscourse.

The filtering aspects provide further abilities to ensure that thedesired content of a given conversation is tracked and displayed to theintended recipients. Separate side channel communications such as in theform of private messages among a subset of the members can beestablished based on the respective reputation scores of the sendingand/or receiving members. The side conversations can also oralternatively be embedded within the existing group chat conversation.Activities such as mini games can be used to enhance reputation scoresor for other purposes related to the group.

It is to be understood that even though numerous characteristics andadvantages of various embodiments of the present disclosure have beenset forth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of various embodiments of the disclosure, thisdetailed description is illustrative only, and changes may be made indetail, especially in matters of structure and arrangements of partswithin the principles of the present disclosure to the full extentindicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which theappended claims are expressed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising displaying, on a networkaccessible device, a group chat session in the form of a visuallyperceptible conversation arranged as a sequence of communications by agroup of users including a local user of the network accessible deviceand a plurality of remote users, each of the local user and each of theplurality of remote users in the group of users having an associatedreputation score generated responsive to at least one characteristic ofa previous communication by the associated user, each of thecommunications displayed on the network accessible device having avisible indicia that indicates, to the local user, the associatedreputation score in relation to a feature of the communication asdisplayed, wherein a content of each communication in the sequence ofcommunications by the group of users remains a portion of the group chatsession without removal therefrom but is displayed with a differentprominence to each of the local user and each of the plurality of remoteusers in relation to the associated reputation score of the associateduser, the method further comprising engaging a filter mechanism, by thelocal user via a user interface of the network accessible device, sothat each communication displayed on the network accessible device ofthe local user requires the associated user in the group of users whoauthored said each communication to have an associated reputation scorethat meets or exceeds a selected minimum threshold, the filter mechanismrejecting from display additional communications from users in the groupof users who have an associated reputation score below the selectedminimum threshold.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a stepof further engaging the filter mechanism, by the local user via the userinterface of the network accessible device, so that each communicationgenerated by the local user is only displayed on a remote networkaccessible device of a selected remote user of the plurality of remoteusers if the selected remote user has an associated reputation scorethat meets or exceeds a second selected minimum threshold.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein the users are respectively characterized as membersof the group chat, and wherein the method further comprises a step ofattempting to establish a separate conversation between at least two ofthe members participating in the group chat, the separate conversationinitiated by a sending member of the group chat and received by areceiving member of the group chat, the separate conversationestablished responsive to at least one of the sending member or thereceiving member having an associated reputation score at or above afirst selected threshold, wherein the separate conversation isprohibited responsive to at least one of the sending member or thereceiving member having an associated reputation score at or below asecond selected threshold below the first selected threshold.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the group chat session is characterized as acurrent group session and the associated reputation scores arecharacterized as current reputation scores, wherein the method furthercomprises using a judgment circuit which generates, responsive to atleast one data struture stored in a memory that lists priorcommunications by each of the group of users in one or more prior groupchat sessions, an initial reputation score for each user in the group ofusers, and which updates the initial reputation score for each user inthe group of users responsive to the communications issued during thecurrent group session to generate the current reputations scores.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the visual indicia comprises a font sizeadjustment that is applied to the content of each communication on thedisplay device in the displayed conversation, wherein communicationsfrom a first user having a better reputation score are displayed using alarger font size and communications from a second user having a worsereputation score are displayed using a smaller font size.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the visual indicia comprises a size of an embeddedgraphical image that forms a portion of at least the content of at leastone of the communications, wherein communications from a first userhaving a better reputation score are displayed using a larger graphicalimage size and communications from a second user having a worsereputation score are displayed using a smaller graphical image size. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the visual indicia comprises a colorscheme assigned to the content of each communication, whereincommunications from a first user having a better reputation score aredisplayed using a first color scheme with a larger contrast andcommunications from a second user having a worse reputation score aredisplayed using a second color scheme with a smaller contrast.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the associated reputation scores arecharacterized as an objective set of reputation scores based on inputsfrom an owner of the group chat session, wherein a first user adjusts atleast one of the reputation scores in the objective set of reputationscores for a second user to provide a tailored set of reputation scores,and wherein the communications displayed on the network accessibledevice of the first user from the second user are displayed with visualindicia determined by the tailored set of reputation scores, and whereinthe communications displayed on the network accessible device of thesecond user from the first user are displayed with visual indiciadetermined by the objective set of reputation scores.
 9. A methodcomprising: connecting a plurality of network accessible devices using anetwork; displaying, on a display of each of the network accessibledevices, a group chat session in the form of a visually perceptibleconversation arranged as a sequence of communications by a group ofusers associated with the network accessible devices, the group chatsession having an associated topic; generating an associated relevancescore for each user in the group of users responsive to a relationshipbetween the communications from each user and the topic where a betterrelevance score is generated for communications having a greaterrelationship to the topic and a worse relevance score is generated forcommunications having a lesser relationship to the topic, the relevancescores stored in an associated memory of each of the network accessibledevices; adjusting, on the display of each of the network accessibledevices, a visual indicia of a content of each subsequent communicationduring the group chat session from each of the users in relation to arelative magnitude of the associated relevance score for the userassociated with the subsequent communication; modifying the relevancescore for at least a first user responsive to a first selectedcommunication by the first user during the group chat session, the firstselected communication displayed on each of the displays of the networkaccessible devices using a first indicia format; displaying, on each ofthe displays of the network accessible devices, the content of a secondselected communication from the first user using a different, secondindicia format selected responsive to the modified relevance score forthe first user; and engaging a filter to assign a minimum requiredrelevance score for recipients of communications from a second user sothat only a first portion of the users having associated relevancescores that meet or exceed the minimum required relevance score are ableto have the communications from the second user displayed on theirassociated network accessible devices, and wherein a remaining secondportion of the users having associated relevance scores that are belowthe minimum required relevance score are not able to have thecommunications from the second user displayed on their associatednetwork accessible devices.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising generating a list of key words associated with the topic andstoring the list of key words in a first memory, generating a list ofused words by each user during the group chat session and storing thelist of used words in a second memory, statistically comparing the listof used words in the second memory to the list of first words in thefirst memory to determine a usage count of each of the list of key wordsappearing in the list of used words for each user, and generating theassociated relevance score for each user based on the usage count foreach user.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and secondindica formats comprise at least a selected one of different fonts,different font styles, different sizes of comments, different colorcombinations of words in relation to a background, or different sizes ofembedded graphical images that are applied to the content of therespective communications.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the filtermechanism is further configurable by the second user such that onlycommunications from users having associated relevance scores that meetor exceed a second minimum required relevance score are displayed on thenetwork accessible device of the second user, and remainingcommunications from remaining users having associated relevance scoresthat are less than the second minimum required relevance score are notdisplayed on the network accessible device of the second user.
 13. Anon-transitory computer program stored in a non-volatile memorycomprising program instructions configured to, when executed by at leastone programmable processor circuit of a network accessible device:store, in a memory of the network accessible device, electronic messagesreceived over a network from participants in a group chat session;access a data structure stored in the memory of the network accessibledevice comprising a set of relevance scores each having a magnitudeindicative of an assigned reputation for each of the participants basedon previous electronic messages transferred to the network accessibledevice; for each electronic message in the memory, identify theparticipant who generated the associated message, identify thecorresponding relevance score for the participant, compare thecorresponding relevance score to a minimum acceptable relevance scorethreshold, and mark the electronic message for display if thecorresponding relevance score meets or exceeds the minimum acceptablerelevance score threshold or flag the electronic message for non-displayif the corresponding relevance score does not meet or exceed the minimumacceptable relevance score; and display each marked electronic messagefrom the memory on a display device of the network accessible device ina selected order corresponding to a sequence in which the electronicmessages were received by the network accessible device to form a visualrepresentation of the group chat session, each electronic message havingan associated content that is displayed in the selected order using atleast a selected one of a different size, style or color in relation tothe associated relevance score for the participant associated with theelectronic message.
 14. The non-transitory computer program of claim 13,further configured to receive the set of relevance scores across thenetwork from a remote server, store the relevance scores as the datastructure in the memory, receive at least one updated relevance scorefor a selected participant from the remote server store the at least oneupdated relevance score in the data structure, and subsequently use theat least one updated relevance score to adjust the configuration of anassociated electronic message from the selected participant.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer program of claim 13, wherein the group chatsession is characterized as a current group session and the associatedreputation scores are generated responsive to the current group chatsession as well as at least one prior group chat session.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer program of claim 13, further configured tomodify, through an input supplied by the user of the network accessibledevice, the relevance score of at least one participant.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer program of claim 13, wherein the networkaccessible device is a local network accessible device, the programfurther configured to transmit comments from the user of the localnetwork accessible device only for display on remote network accessibledevices of selected participants in the group chat, the selectedparticipants each having an associated relevance score that meets orexceeds a second minimum acceptable relevance score threshold.
 18. Asystem comprising a remote server comprising a programmable processorcircuit and associated programming instructions in a server memory, theremote server configured to establish a group chat session among aplurality of users of a corresponding plurality of network accessibledevices so that a sequential conversation of comments from therespective users are routed through the remote server and transferredfor display in a time sequential order on each of the network accessibledevices, the remote server further configured to generate a relevancescore for each of the users responsive to a comparison of termsappearing in the comments from each to a list of key words associatedwith the group chat session, each relevance score indicating a relativemeasure of the relevance of the comments by the associated user to thegroup chat session, the remote server forwarding the relevance scorewith each subsequent comment by each user to the network accessibledevices, the remote server maintaining all of the comments from therespective users in the sequential conversation without subdividing thecomments therefrom irrespective of the associated relevance scores sothat the network accessible devices are enabled to apply differentvisual indicia to the comments in the displayed conversation todifferentiate among the different relevance scores, the remote serverfurther configured to, responsive to at least one input from a filtermechanism of the network accessible device of a selected user,selectively restrict communications from the selected user to only otherusers having an associated relevance score that meets or exceeds a firstselected threshold and to restrict communications to the selected useronly from other users having an associated relevance score that meets orexceeds a second selected threshold.
 19. The system of claim 18, furthercomprising a non-transitory computer program in the form of anapplication (app) associated with the group chat session stored in amemory of and executed by a processor of each of the network accessibledevices, the app configured to display each comment on a display deviceof the associated network accessible device in an order corresponding toa sequence in which the comments were received by the network accessibledevice to form a visual representation of the group chat session, theapp displaying each comment using at least a selected one of a differentsize, style or color in relation to the associated relevance score forthe user associated with the comment.
 20. The system of claim 18,wherein the remote server comprises a scoring module circuit configuredto store a previous relevance score for a selected user, generate aprovisional updated relevance score responsive to a first parameter,generate a final updated relevance score responsive to a secondparameter, and output the updated relevance score along with a newcomment from the selected user during the group chat session.
 21. Thesystem of claim 18, wherein each relevance score is generated by theremote server responsive to inputs supplied from a plurality of appsfrom the network accessible devices.
 22. The system of claim 21, whereineach relevance score is further generated responsive to at least aselected one of a volume of comments generated by each user over aselected period of time and at least one achievement of the associateduser during execution of a gaming app on the associated networkaccessible device.